Blagojevich jury ends 4th day without verdict

The federal jury deliberating the fate of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich went home this afternoon without reaching a verdict.

The jury, which has completed four days of deliberations, is scheduled to resume its discussions Thursday morning. Jurors recessed for the day at about 4 p.m., court officials said.

On Tuesday, the panel of 11 women and one man passed their first communication to U.S. District Judge James Zagel, but it turned out to be over a minor issue — not all of them had the same number of pages of a transcript of one secretly recorded call in the case. The problem was quickly resolved.

The jury is working from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but its members have told the court they could stretch their hours or work a Friday if they were close to reaching a verdict.

Blagojevich is on trial on 20 counts of corruption, including alleged attempts to trade an appointment to the U.S. Senate for something of value for himself.

The first jury that heard the case deadlocked last summer on all but one count, convicting the former governor of lying to the FBI about his knowledge of fundraising.